• Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

Love & Renovations

  • Home
  • New? Start here!
  • Shop Our House
  • Ampersand Supply
  • Contact

April 18, 2016 · 14 Comments

Easy DIY Open Shelving

DIY Projects

If you need to catch up on our kitchen renovation, you can see where we painted our cabinets here, and how we painted our countertops here, and finally, how we installed the beadboard backsplash here. Today, we’ll chat about our DIY open shelving! 

When we last left off on our kitchen renovation saga, we had installed a (gorgeous, I’m so in love with it) beadboard backsplash…and we had taken down our only upper cabinet on this side of the kitchen, which left us with exactly zero storage.

Well, obviously, we needed to remedy that.

Corey and I have been dreaming of DIY open shelving in our kitchen for a long time. There used to be one lone cabinet above the counters on that side of the kitchen, and it always looked a little sad and lonely – we knew the room would feel much lighter and airier without it. So, when we painted our cabinets a few months back, we left that cabinet alone (which meant it stuck out like a sore thumb) until we could get around to dealing with it.

Well, my friends, that day has come.

Love the look of open shelving in your kitchen but have no idea how to tackle it? This tutorial will help you out - it's incredible simple, and it looks gorgeous! As an added bonus, it only costs about $50 for the entire project!

This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy. 

Ahhh! I don’t mean to gush, but I am so in love with how this whole project turned out. It’s a game-changer for our kitchen, y’all.

Once we finished this project, Corey couldn’t stop saying how it was the first big project we’ve done that he felt totally transformed the entire feel of our house. You can see the backsplash and shelves from almost everywhere downstairs, and it makes the whole house feel more modern, custom, and gorgeous.

After spending several days installing the backsplash, painting it, and painting the rest of our kitchen, the absolute last thing I wanted to do was pour a ton of time or effort into these shelves. I knew I wanted something a little bit rustic and edgy to offset the stark white beadboard, and I swore up and down to Corey that I have no intention of touching a paintbrush for quite some time after painting literally almost every single surface in our kitchen over the last few months.

So, we kept it super simple. I was worried we would have to custom order some brackets for the shelves because I’m pretty picky, but we saw these at Lowe’s and they were exactly what I wanted – clean lines, not too elaborate, and black. Perfect!

DIY open shelving

easy DIY open shelving

How to install DIY open shelving

Easy DIY Open Shelving

We bought nice, chunky 2×12 while we were there and had them cut it down for us – we originally thought we might do two different sizes of shelves, but once we tried it out by holding it up to the wall we decided to go with the same size shelf for both. We went with 30″ for the shelves, purely because it was what felt right when we held up our tape measure with a few different options.

Once we got the wood home, I gave it a nice rubdown with some Danish oil in the “natural” color. It’s meant to just bring out the natural tones of the wood and I love how it highlights the pretty veins and imperfections. It really brings the wood to life, as cheesy as it sounds, and was exactly the look we were going for.

After we let the wood dry completely (it only takes about 30 minutes before you can wipe off the extra oil, then 8 hours before you actually use it), it was time to put ’em up! To install the shelves, all we did was screw the brackets into the studs on the wall (this is why the shelves are slightly off-center on the wall – we wanted to make sure they were nice and sturdy!), and then set the wood on top and screwed it into the top part of the brackets.

Voila! Shelves!

Gorgeous DIY open shelving in the kitchen

How to make your own DIY open shelving

Beautiful DIY open shelving

Because I spent a lot of time Googling this to figure out the standard, here are the measurement for our DIY open shelving:

– The bottom of the first shelf is 19 inches from the top of the counter.
– The bottom of the second shelf is 12 inches from the top of the first one.

This seems to be a pretty perfect distance for us – we have enough room on both the counters and the shelves, and nothing feels too cramped.

This whole open shelving thing was way simpler to pull off than I thought it would be, and I’m over the moon in love with how it turned out. We keep our most-used dishes here, so nothing has any time at all to get dusty because it’s constantly being rotated. There is slightly less storage space than we had when there was a cabinet here, but we’re really working on downsizing our possessions anyways, so it’s a great thing for us.

How to create DIY open shelving

DIY open shelving for the home

How to make DIY open shelving for the home

The next step in the kitchen will be to put up a window treatment (we are going to get one that matches what we have in the dining room) and then fingers crossed we’ll be tackling the floor with the same luxury vinyl we have everywhere else downstairs soon!

This DIY open shelving was beyond simple to put up, and I am kicking myself for not taking this project on sooner – sometimes the things you build up in your mind as the hardest projects end up being some of the easiest! You can also check out this tutorial for how to make DIY floating shelves if you’re looking for something a little different!

Want even more easy & affordable DIY ideas? You might like these posts:

  • How to install vinyl plank flooring (see how it looks in our kitchen!)
  • Tips and tricks for painting kitchen cabinets
  • DIY Fixer-Upper inspired farmhouse wooden sign
  • Our handmade bar cart for the kitchen
  • Check out the official before and afters of our kitchen

Previous Post: « Friday Finds
Next Post: My Modified Capsule Wardrobe »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Enrique Garcia says

    November 27, 2018 at 9:28 am

    Hello…was the depth of the shelves 12 inches? I’m not sure if that will be too deep but I want to be able to fit my dinner plates. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      November 27, 2018 at 4:46 pm

      Hi! They’re 12″ boards, which means the actual depth is about 11.5″. Our dinner plates fit perfectly!

      Reply
  2. Brian says

    March 20, 2017 at 8:55 am

    What type of wood did you use?

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      March 22, 2017 at 3:03 pm

      We used Douglas Fir – the stuff you find in the framing section at the hardware store!

      Reply
  3. Kendra @ www.joyinourhome.com says

    February 4, 2017 at 11:02 pm

    Love your open shelves, Amanda!! We just hung ours today! Your kitchen is beautiful! xo

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      February 8, 2017 at 11:51 am

      Thanks so much, Kendra!

      Reply
  4. Duane says

    December 18, 2016 at 7:03 pm

    Hello there. Great job on the project! Question … my wife and I are about to tackle a similar project and we’re having trouble find brackets that will fit 2×12 shelves …. any chance you have a link to the ones you used?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      December 18, 2016 at 10:22 pm

      Thanks, Duane! These are the ones we used from Lowe’s.

      Reply
  5. Emily Miller Peña says

    October 10, 2016 at 8:57 pm

    This is so gorgeous! Clean and functional, my faves combination. Can’t wait to see the master bath come together!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      October 11, 2016 at 11:01 am

      Thank you, friend! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Jordan says

    April 19, 2016 at 8:19 am

    This looks lovely, and it doesn’t seem like too difficult a project either! Could definitely use the extra shelf space in a few of our rooms. Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
  7. Tania says

    April 18, 2016 at 4:19 pm

    It Looks beautiful! I love how the bead board goes sideways instead of up and down and the shelves look beautiful…open shelving is one of my favorites in a kitchen too.

    Tania

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      April 19, 2016 at 6:25 am

      Thank you, Tania!

      Reply
  8. Cinny says

    April 18, 2016 at 8:23 am

    OH! I love it! It’s so open and lovely!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hey, friend!

 photo IMG_5108 2_zpstvngxnnk.jpg

Overwhelmed by DIY? Let's do it together! I'm Amanda, and I live in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with my husband and two sons. I've taught myself how to make simple updates to help make my house a home, and I want to show you how to do it, too. Click here to learn more about us.

Looking for Something?

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · captivating theme by Restored 316